Veteran rock drummer Carmen Appice has offered Jimmy Page and Robert Plant his services should they ever reform Led Zeppelin, insisting he's a much better fit for them than Jason Bonham. Bonham, the son of late Led Zep star John Bonham, took his dad's drum seat in the band when Plant, Page and John Paul Jones reunited for a London benefit in 2007 - and he is considered the natural successor should the group ever get back together to tour.
Plant has made it clear that's not going to happen anytime soon, but Page remains optimistic - and it appears Appice, who has performed with Ozzy Osbourne, Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart, among others, hasn't given up on a reunion either.
Furthermore, he wants to be part of it.
Appice tells Totally Driven Radio, "I would like to work with a Led Zeppelin configuration, whether it's just John and Jimmy, me and a singer. There's a rumour that Ann Wilson might go out with them. I'd love to play drums on something like that."
He believes he's a better choice than Bonham, adding, "Everybody in that band is old school and legendary. Jason isn't legendary and he's not old school. He's John Bonham's son but he don't (sic) play like John Bonham. I'm not either - but I think my style might be close, because I came first.
"John listened to stuff I did (in Vanilla Fudge) and did it his own way. And we took them on their first tour. It's very close in feel.
"When John passed away there were rumours that I was going to join Led Zeppelin. Obviously I didn't get to do that, but I would still like to do that."
The Ann Wilson rumour is one the Heart singer started last year (14) when she revealed she'd be interested in stepping in for Plant should Page and Jones decide to tour as Led Zeppelin without their former frontman.
In a recent chat with Classic Rock Revisited, the singer, who performed Led Zep's Stairway to Heaven at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012, revealed she'd relish the challenge of stepping in for Plant.
She said, "(That was) one of the most unforgettable nights of my life... When we were done, we walked backstage and there was a feeling of awe. We were like, 'What just happened?'
"Hypothetically, if they (Page and Jones) ever needed a lead singer and Heart was not active at the moment, then, sure, I would (do it). I would go and play with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones any day of the week."

Cult supergroup Temple Of The Dog reformed at Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit in California on Saturday night (25Oct14). The band, made up of members from Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, hit the stage at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View towards the end of Pearl Jam's acoustic set to perform their fan favourite Hunger Strike.
The magic moment marked the first time Soundgarden's Chris Cornell had joined bandmate and Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron, bassist Jeff Ament and guitarists Mike McCready and Stone Gossard onstage since the release party of documentary Pearl Jam Twenty in September, 2011.
Pearl Jam were the stand out act at the benefit concert, performing hits like Daughter and Given to Fly, while frontman Eddie Vedder performed Sleeping By Myself from his solo album Ukulele Songs.
Another Bridge School Benefit highlight came when Young joined Beach Boys stars Brian Wilson and Al Jardine's set.
The second night of this year's Bridge School Benefit takes place on Sunday (26Oct14).

Legendary hitmaker Jeff Lynne has replaced Jason Orange in Take That, becoming the group's secret fourth member. The Electric Light Orchestra leader, who recently staged a comeback show in London's Hyde Park, has been working in the studio with Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald, hoping to get them back to the top of the charts.
Lynne has quite a pedigree as a producer - he was also the mastermind behind supergroup the Traveling Wilburys and he has worked with living legends Sir Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson.
Take That's new album, III, will be released in December (14). A new single, called These Days, will debut on Friday (10Oct14).
Orange announced he was leaving the group last month (Sep14).

Actor Jeff Goldblum is set to make his New York debut with his jazz band, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, next month (Sep14) after booking a mini-residency at the Cafe Carlyle. The group, which is known for playing improvised versions of classic jazz standards, will perform from 16 to 20 September (14), before making way for actress/singer Rita Wilson, who will take over the stage from 24 September to 4 October (14).
The Breakfast Club star Molly Ringwald is also set to show off her musical skills with a set at the same legendary venue from 7 to 18 October (14).
Cafe Carlyle is known for its big names - director Woody Allen stages a weekly jam session with his jazz band at the lounge from September (14) to December (14).

Guitar great Jeff Beck has scrapped his European tour after receiving "emergency medical attention" which has sidelined him for the next six weeks. The veteran rocker, who has struggled with health issues in recent years, was due to kick off the second leg of his trek in Austria on Friday (27Jun14), but an undisclosed ailment prompted Beck to pull the dates.
A statement posted on Beck's website reveals he will now undergo a "short hospital procedure" to treat the problem and rest up ahead of his scheduled U.S. tour with ZZ Top in August (14).
Apologising to fans for the cancellation, a representative adds, "He sends his profound apologies to those fans who had bought tickets for the European concerts and very much looks forward to playing for his American audiences after he has completed his treatment."
The 70 year old previously had to play through the pain on his joint tour with Beach Boys star Brian Wilson last year (13) after undergoing an endoscopy for another illness in between live shows.

Marvel Comics
After teetering on the cusp of creative disaster, Marvel has finally put its Ant-Man film back on track, but the project - now on its second director - still looks like a bit of a question mark for the blockbuster studio. Luckily we might have some new answers flowing through the rumor mill. According to some new rumors from JoBlo, Paul Rudd's Scott Lang character will be a petty thief and single dad that steals the Ant-Man technology from Hank Pym, played by Michael Douglas. There are also whispers of the identity of the new villain, as the site also alleges that comic book character Darren Cross will be the film's central antagonist. In the comics, Cross is the founder of Cross Technological Enterprises, a large bio-tech firm that rivals other Marvel universe corporate giants like Stark Industries and Oscorp. Cross will reportedly have a suit similar to Ant-Man's but more militaristic, and might be played by Corey Stoll or Patrick Wilson. It's important to note that Cross' character in the comics takes on a Hulk-like appearance, but the film might not head in that direction, given the current rumors. Cross' cousin, William Cross, is also a villain named Crossfire in the comics.
While these are all rumors, and should be taken with the appropriately sized grain of salt, we wonder if Ant-Man would benefit from heading in a different direction villain-wise. Darren Cross is only the latest in a long parade of evil businessmen wreaking havoc in the Marvel universe. There's been Jeff Bridges' Obadiah Stane in the first Iron Man, Sam Rockwell's sniveling Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2, and Guy Pierce's Aldrich Killian in Iron Man 3. But even outside of Disney's output, comic book films are completely stuffed with corporate boogeymen. There's the enterprising Bolivar Trask in this year's X-Men: Days of Future Past, and yet another rendition of Lex Luthor via Jesse Eisenberg in the upcoming Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
The sinister businessman has remained a well used trope in the sprawling Marvel universe, and while it makes sense that Tony Stark would frequently bump heads with other enterprising industrialists, hearing that Ant-Man might also be clashing with big immoral businessmen has us wishing that the film would look for some other antagonists. Ant-Man, whose chief ability is to grow very small and still retain his normal strength, is comic book absurdity at its very finest, and the fact that he can communicate telepathically with ants makes it even more over the top. It feels like the powers that be at Marvel should have something zanier up their sleeves than yet another cutthroat capitalist in a three-piece suit that worships the American dollar. A weird hero should have even weirder rogues to do battle with.
With all that said, there might be more to Darren Cross than meets the eye. Maybe the character does turn into a giant pink Hulk in the film's climax? We'll just have to wait and see.
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Brian Wilson's daughters Carnie and Wendy have expressed their disappointment at guitar great Jeff Beck after he publicly questioned the Beach Boys legend's mental state following their joint tour last year (13). Beck hit headlines last month (May14) when he opened up about the old pals' "nightmare" tour, claiming the notoriously private Wilson, who has suffered decades of mental health issues, hardly spoke to him while on the road, adding, "He's clearly in need of attention. But that's just my opinion."
The Good Vibrations rocker has yet to respond to Beck's comments, but his singer daughter Carnie Wilson has taken aim at Beck for failing to take up any issues he might have had with her father in private.
She tells the New York Daily News, "It is crass and out there. I thought they had a good time on tour."
Carnie's sister and Wilson Phillips bandmate Wendy adds, "I think you have to support your colleagues and the people you work with. It is in good taste to say nice things about them, even if you think otherwise."
Carnie insists their father is doing well, but she has been urging the 71 year old to take it easy: "(He) is doing OK. He is laying back a little bit, which is about time. I want him to do that.
"He has been on the road for 15 years, and he has continued to do whatever he wants. I like to make him dinner and hang out... I want him to slow down."

Tribeca Film via Everett Collection
Palo Alto bleeds aimlessness in a lot of good ways. In the tradition of Dazed and Confused and The Last Picture Show, Gia Coppola's directorial debut lands us knee deep in the ennui of a self-contained society of small town teens, daring us to dive right into a neon cesspool vacant of hope or self-actualization. Keeping in step with the mentioned films, Palo Alto is far less interested in telling a story than it is in painting a picture. The spectacle that results is beautiful, piercing, and — quite definitely — Coppolian. But it hits some difficulty when it tries to move beyond its frame.
Adapted from the short stories of at-least-he's-always-interesting James Franco (who is featured in the movie as a sneakily lecherous soccer coach), Palo Alto tags us to the corroded souls of a gaggle of misguided high schoolers in suburban Central California. Emma Roberts is the ostensible lead; her April is a sullen young woman whose chief character trait is sympathetic disillusionment. Her paths cross here and there with Mr. B (Franco) and likewise wayfaring classmate Teddy (Jack Kilmer — son of Val, who has a brief part in the film as the space cadet stepfather to Roberts), who is lightyears away from appreciating the gravity in his drunk driving episode and subsequent community service.
Tribeca Film via Everett Collection
The highlight of the bunch is Teddy's pal Fred, a compulsively obnoxious clown who The Naked Brothers Band's Nat Wolff stuffs with palpable agony and confusion. Buried inside of him, April, Teddy, and the scattered secondary players who work to identify the core of the proper main character — Palo Alto itself — lives our story, never progressing in any direction thereon out. The film is a snapshot of the pangs, frustrations, misgivings, malfeasances, and so on of the kids, adults, and neighborhood in question. In this form, it glows.
But Palo Alto tries to drive its story forward, yanking April, Teddy, and Fred out from the stronghold of their communal desperation and throwing them into the beyond. It's this forward motion that brings our attention to the delicate seams of the film, its unpreparedness in handling the story as much more than a lasting glimpse. We feel the elements slipping away from Coppola as she attempts to set them on a motive course for the first time in the third act, and so we have a tough time staying adhered as we once were to the characters — the falter is doubled by the fact that this emancipation comes at the intended peak of their emotional journeys.
Although the film might leave off dabbling in undeveloped turns — feeling frayed, uneven, and incomplete (I suppose it's hard to insist that such qualities are inappropriate for the story at hand) — it spends the lion's share of its time in a remarkable establishment: a portrait as lifelike as it is dreamy and as funny as it is haunting. It might lose its balance when it grabs for agency, but it offers an image very much worthy of our eyes.
4/5
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Rocker Jeff Beck has opened up about his recent health crisis, revealing he played through the pain on his joint tour with Brian Wilson despite undergoing an invasive medical procedure. The veteran guitarist headed out on the road with the Beach Boys legend last year (13) for a series of shows, but the gruelling schedule took its toll on him.
During a stop in Chicago, Illinois, Beck attended a hospital and underwent an endoscopy - an internal examination with a flexible camera - but he was determined to continue with the concerts.
He tells Mojo magazine, "What I didn't realise was that (the tour bosses) wanted me to spend the whole afternoon doing promo to prop up the ticket sales. So we did this meet-and-greet stuff where audiences pay good money to watch rehearsals which robbed me of the afternoon nap.
"I ended up in Chicago University Hospital having an endoscopy. They still had me playing the next night. It was a bit blood and guts, but I had fallen in love with the idea of playing with Brian Wilson."
However, Beck also reveals he struggled to click with the notoriously private Wilson, who has suffered decades of mental health issues, adding, "(It was) a bit of a nightmare. He doesn't speak. He's clearly in need of attention. But that's just my opinion."

ABC/HBO
Slowly but surely, television is opening up the long overdue idea of a woman in the White House. Veep stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer, a former presidential hopeful who takes the thankless job of VP. She tries for change but often gets mired in bureaucracy and ignored by the POTUS. Scandal follows Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), a D.C. fixer with a very close relationship with the president. Though different genres, both have women as major players in politics and tend to favor outrageous situations in our nation’s capital. So which series presents the most formidable women and which has the most outlandish shenanigans?
Most Powerful
Veep has quite a few women in power. Selina Meyer is Vice President, and some of the most important people in her office are her Chief of Staff Amy (Anna Chlumsky) and her personal assistant, Sue Wilson (Sufe Bradshaw). Part of the joke of Veep is that Selina is so inutile. She is unable to make as much headway in politics as she’d like because but she gets sidelined by lobbyists or undone by the POTUS. However, there are enough high profile women in Washington that she often liaises with Senators and Representatives… including Kate Burton, who incidentally plays the Vice President over on Scandal.
In the Scandal universe, Olivia Pope is a major power player in D.C. She lives outside the law, often outright breaking it to achieve her ends. She is instrumental in presidential elections. There are plenty of powerful women on the show as well. Two members of Olivia’s team are women and the First Lady Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young) is a shrewd politician. There even is a viable potential presidential candidate in Josie Marcus (Lisa Kudrow). However, Olivia’s Achilles’ heel is her love for the president. As kick-ass as Olivia and the women on the show can be, their efforts are often undone by sex, love, or other personal matters. The series does deserve some bonus points because Shonda Rhimes’ power does reverberate through the series, but her sphere of influence is Hollywood, not D.C.
Ruling: Veep. In the court of public opinion, Selina’s reputation is still pretty decent. All the female characters are unwaveringly ambitious and often sacrifice the personal for the professional.
Outrageousness
Both series present a slightly exaggerated view of D.C. for the sake of entertainment. Veep opts for the realistic with comedic reactions. Selina will occasionally fly off the handle or get her foot in her mouth. On one occasion, she sneaks into the Oval Office to confront the POTUS and accidentally gets lipstick stuck in the presidential seal on the office rug. She is often the last to find out about major policy changes because she has a non-existent relationship with the POTUS. Personally, she’s divorced and her sex life is often met with equally wild mishaps. But the bulk of the outrageousness comes from keeping her issues out of the public eye and staying in good standing.
Scandal is not afraid to be downright insane. Not only is Olivia carrying on an off-again/on-again relationship with the president but she’ll move mountains to keep it a secret. The series has secret government agents, murders, kidnappings, and a White House Chief-of-Staff (Jeff Perry) who is willing to do anything for the president and his political career.
Ruling: Scandal. It takes drama to the extreme. Not only does it focus on some of the worst possible scenarios for D.C. but everyone is chock full of secrets.
Both series are making great headway in showcasing women as important players in government. It helps that the shows use humor and scandalous soap operatic drama to excite the masses for a female president.
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